It is a good shot!
September Chat Continues
I know how you feel ... when i actually started seeing Monarchs in my garden, I got so excited. Decided to get registered as a Monarch Waystation. Such fun!
Well, you'd better let me know cause as I said Heritage Park is just down the street from me, maybe less than a mile. I'm never good at judging distances. ;-) But I can easily walk over there from the house. In fact, I sometimes do my exercise walking around the adjacent schools and Heritage Park. It's a nice facility. Occasionally when I'm walking over there I see them playing soccer. Big crowds!
Congrats on the Monarchs. Way cool. :-)
That's an awesome pic Elaine! Congrats to your DGD too! That's awesome!!
Carole the birds still aren't eating the bird seed in the feeder and there's nothing wrong with it, no ants, it hasn't rained so it's not wet, I'm wondering if the birds that eat that kind of food aren't at my house, maybe I should wait for winter when the finches are looking for food through the snow, if it gets cold enough to snow lol
good shot, Elaine, of the Monarch. I get excited when I see them, too. I caught this one on my milkweed the other day. I hope it was laying eggs. :o))
Also, congrats to your DGD!
This message was edited Sep 22, 2010 10:09 AM
Awesome shot, Marilyn, I hope it was laying eggs too. :-)
My jalapeno pepper is going strong. At least something is loving the dry hot weather!
Oooohhh, Marilyn, I hope you get some eggs left for you too!
crissy -- I honestly don't know what's up with your birds not eating from your birdfeeder. If the seed is fresh and the right type that the birds like and they can eat from the feeder easily, they usually do. There must be something around that scares them or that they don't like. What could it be? I'd like to know.
Crissy, what kind of seed do you have in the feeder? Also is the cat outside?
Crissy, I often have periods where the birds kind of ignore the feeder. They will sometimes clean it out in a couple of days and then it will sit for a week and I just have nibbles. I don't know. I use the same seed year round from WBU and it's mostly sunflower. I guess they have finished their mating and nurturing their young and maybe are getting their nests ready for winter. Just a guess. I'd leave it out and make sure it's dry and let them find it, which they surely will.
Mine sometimes do the same thing and ignore the feeder for a couple of days, but you have been so long, crissy, without them eating from your feeder. I can't help but think something is bothering them. What kind of birds do you have around?
Just found out our little city will be the sight of the house hunt on tonight's new episode of "House Hunters" at 9 pm (CST) on HGTV.
I like to watch House Hunters, Carole, so I will try to remember to catch that episode tonight!
This is a plant that Genna gave me last spring. Genna if you are reading this will you please ID it for me--the tag has faded but I could barely make out your name and the letters "helianth--" and that was all. I think it is a helianthus (some kind of sunflower).
here is a close-up of the bloom:
I should have written that "site" and not "sight". :-(
Nice flower, Marilyn. Love yellow.
LOL Carole! This is the kind of bird seed that has everything in it, including peanuts. We have every kind of bird that Central Arkansas has, but I've noticed that I haven't even seen a cardinal in quite a while, let alone everyone else. It maybe just because it's been so dry and hot, the birds may have moved further into the woods. There's nothing out there to scare them, Tiga goes in and out all the time but she just eats some grass next to the front porch and goes back in, or she'll sit or lay in the lawn chairs on the front porch and watch all of the going ons from there unless I'm outside LOL She followed me into the fenced in garden area the other day and I didn't see her, her brown coloring is camouflage to the ground, and I shut the gate and she was locked in there! I was wondering where she was, oops!!! Poor Tiga! She was only in there for maybe 30 minutes at just before dusk, so it wasn't a big deal, but it was!! LOL
What a pretty flower Marilyn!!!
Crissy, birds have slowed down some but not that much. I have at least 20-25 doves plus cardinals, house finches, wood peckers, nuthatches, chickadees, titmice, etc that feed in late afternoon. However, I do have 4 seed feeders, a double suet feeder and 2 hummingbird feeders and all are very close to cover. I have 2 large birdbaths and 1 small one. Do you have water close by? Is the feeder out in the open? We will figure this out...
Oops, I forgot to say...Marilyn, the pretty yellow flower looks like a dahlia.
This message was edited Sep 24, 2010 10:47 AM
I looked out the side panels of the front door this morning and there was a neighborhood cat sitting on the bench in the flower bed stalking a hummingbird. He was all crouched and waiting to pounce. The hummingbird was feeding on a salvia next to the bench. Don't think there is anyway the cat could catch a hummingbird but he was sure trying.
With those white pines your birds should have shade and cover. I've only got one very big white pine in the back yard, but there are woods behind us. And I've still got lots of birds in spite of the near drought conditions here. I did pick up another bird bath yesterday at Rural King ... nice tall ceramic one marked down to $22.00. Good deal. So now I have two. My birdies love their baths and they used the other bird bath all the time. I refilled it daily when it doesn't rain (which it hasn't in months, she said sourly). I'm like Kim, I want to know what's up with them not eating your seed. Bugs me. ;-) Maybe someone nearby has out some food they like a whole lot better. But still, if you feed them, they will come. ;-o Mine are rather spoiled in the summer when it comes to their food. They won't touch milo and gingerly pick it all out of the seed mix and drop in on the ground. But not to worry, General T Beauregard (resident groundhog) loves it ... so nothing is wasted. He's a one man (er, animal) clean-up crew. In the winter, the birds eat it with no problem. As I said, spoiled. :-D)))
Charlotte, Ruth told me that Sam caught a hummer this spring. I have not seen any kind of feathers around here this summer, my cats are too lazy I guess
At least I haven't seen any feathers yet. This is the cat stalking my hummingbirds. Directly in front of the cat is the bush the hummingbird was feeding on. I call this a neighborhood cat because it really doesn't belong to anyone. I have a neighbor down the street that feeds a whole bunch of cats. They are all outside cats - think they are just stray cats that show up. This one has been around a long time.
This is the Rita's Gold fern I bought this spring. I put a piece of hardy fern from my yard in the basket with it. This picture is just for a frame of reference. The next picture I'm going to post is how the fern looks today.
Is this not incredible! It has come through the coco liner and has pieces of fern all down the liner. I'm not sure how I'm going to try to over winter this - but it is too great to not give it a try.
Beautiful!!
My ginger is blooming. I'm so proud of this. It was just a little piece when I planted it last year and it has really taken off.
NOID yellow brug I bought at the Plant Outlet in Conway in August. They never have a name on the local brugs. This one they had marked down to $5 and it had a lot of buds. I just had to rescue it.
Same yellow brug.
Can anyone ID this EE. As you can see it is really tall. I'm going to follow with a close up of the leaf.
I believe I bought this on the trip to Rita's and Homestead. It didn't have a tag on it.
great pictures, Charlotte--and that fern is amazing--the brug, too. Have you tried posting that EE over on the ID forum?
No I haven't tried that yet. I thought maybe Kenny or Jim would know.
Clueless on the ear other then it being some kind of colocasia.
Yellow surprise lilly.
Kenny how should I over winter it?? I have it planted in a large container. Will it survive the winter in the container or do you think I should dig it up and repot and take inside.
Move it inside. If it was in the ground it would probably do ok if you covered it up good with mulch or leaves, but in the pot it will freeze if left out. I am pretty sure we have some just like it so if you loose it you can always get more.
I'm going to be doing a lot of digging and repotting this fall!!!
Beautiful Charlotte, I think i'm goin g to have to get one of Rita's gold ferns next spring, they are pretty, and my container plants seem to do far better than my actual plants in the yard this time of year, maybe I can have some real nice containers in september next year lol
I'd be shooing that cat off lol
Charlotte, that Rita's Gold fern is beautiful. I hope it overwinters well for you. It should do ok if protected. Looks like you have a fern paradise there.
Kim thanks for your help! I don't have a birdbath at all, Dave won't let me buy one, and the feeder is in the middle of three huge white oak trees in my side yard. There are usually tons of birds around here, especially at Diana's next door because she has tons of trees and shade, but neither one of us have seen any birds except for crows and vultures. They usually feed in my open yard and nest in her thick shrubs.
Wow Charlotte! Look at your brugs! Mine are popping today, I'll get a pic of them later after more of them open.
Maybe it is just one of those flukes of nature that happens with birds and critters. East of us in the Carolinas and Virginia (I think) they are having a stink bug invasion of monumental proportions. Next year may be totally different with the birds. Hope so.
Just thought I'd post something fun this morning. This is my little avocado tree I grew from a pit this year. We did that a lot out West. But they could stay outside year around and even go in the ground a lot of places out there. Used to have an avo orchard behind our home in San Diego. And when we lived in the high desert we could buy avocados 8 for $1 at the packing house. Sheesh ... now sometimes they are 1 for $1 in the grocery here! Oh well, what can you do? :-)
